When Bison Go Stir Crazy
by fleagirl125
Summary: Zuko and Iroh have joined the gang. Six people plus two animals is a crowd! With very little elbow room, the gang's bound to go a little stir crazy. Drabbles from each characters's POV.
1. How to NOT to start the day

**I KNOW it's short. I promise the next chapter will be longer. _Maybe..._ XD**

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Prince Zuko stood in the giant throne room. A crowd of happy, chatting people gathered around and stared in awe as King Appa presented him with the Firebender of the Month award for defeating the evil dragon Azula.

"Oh no, it was nothing. Really!" Zuko said as they handed him the lemur-shaped trophy.

"And he's modest too!" Appa boomed merrily. He clapped Zuko on the shoulder. "For saving our city from the terrible wrath of Azula, I not only present Prince Zuko with this award, but I declare that, from now on, this day shall be known as 'Prince Zuko Day'!"

The crowd cheered and began dancing. King Appa turned to Zuko and said in an oddly high-pitched voice "Come on, Zuko! Your uncle says it's time to wake up!"

That sudden out-of-place comment tugged Zuko from his dream. He opened his good eye just barely enough to see Avatar Aang standing over him with an expectant look on his face. Why in Agni's name did Aang have to be a morning person?  
Zuko groaned and rolled over. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, Aang would leave him alone, and then he could go back to sleep. But he couldn't go back to that dream. No more King Appa. No more cheering people. No more trophy.

He was going to miss that trophy.

"Zuuukooo..." Aang wined. "Don't you want to learn Firebending with me?"

Zuko already knew how to Firebend, and he was very tempted to demonstrate his skills for the Avatar, but he just was too tired to do any frying of butts at the moment. He merely rolled onto his stomach and threw the pillow over his head.

"Hey Zuko, I'm going to play with your swords for a little while, ok?"

"Yeah, whatever. Just - YOU WANT TO WHAT?!"

Zuko jumped to his feet with speed he didn't know he possessed. At first he was expecting to see a dead Avatar, or worse, two destroyed Dao swords. But instead, he was greeted by a grinning Aang.

"I knew that would get you up." he said with triumph. Playfully he added, "Besides... You rise with the sun, remember?"

Zuko scowled at the young Avatar. Realizing he had been tricked, and seeing no real reason to go back go sleep, Zuko grudgingly followed Aang.

_Rise with the sun?_ Zuko thought bitterly. _Why did I have to say that?_

And as he hauled his tired self, he wished nothing more then to be a Waterbender...


	2. Of seal meat and other things

Katara plopped another strip of seal meat into the frying pan as she listened to Sokka complain. Sokka liked to complain. It was his favourite pass-time. And he complained about everything. Zuko, hunger, Zuko, lack of money, Zuko, Katara being a girl, Zuko, Momo, and Zuko were just a few of his favourite topics.

Today it was seal meat.

"Why seal meat? We always have seal meat!" he moaned.

"Well then, since you're the mighty hunter, why don't you go get something else for us to eat?" Katara snapped. Why oh why couldn't her brother just shut-up?

"Fine! Maybe I will." he retorted. He took his club out of the pack and stomped off into the woods.  
Katara threw a few more strips of seal meat into the frying pan with a little more force then nessicary.

Toph crawled out of her rock tent, stretched, and sat down on a log by the campfire.

"Mornin' Suger Queen." she yawned.

"Morning Toph."

"So where's that crazy old coot and his disfunctional nephew?"

"Oh, Zuko and and Iroh are training with Aang. They should be back in a little while."

Katara tipped some seal meat onto a platter and handed it to Toph.

"Oh boy. Seal meat. My favourite..." she said sarcastically. Katara might have hit Toph with the frying pan had there not been seal meat still in it. So she had to settle with giving the blind girl several evil scowls that she couldn't see.

Aang, Zuko, and Iroh returned later that morning, all in seemingly good moods. Well, all except for Zuko, who was allways in a bad mood anyway. They all sat down around the fire as Katara served them their breakfast. Aang made a small face when he saw the seal meat, but Katara ignored it.

"Katara," said Iroh, "will you do this poor, old man a favor, and fix him a cup of tea, please?" Katara saw Zuko roll his eyes. She couldn't help but smile at the two of them. Zuko and Iroh were quite the pair.


	3. A game of cards

Aang sat quietly as he watched Zuko play a card game with the Katara and Sokka. Aang didn't quite understand the rules, but he knew enough to tell that Zuko was loosing badly.

"Ok... So I have the joker... Is that _good_?" the prince asked.

"No. You want to try to get rid of it, Zuko." Sokka said impatiently, "And besides, you're not supposed to _tell_ us that you have the joker. That completely defeats the purpose of the game."

"Then, how do I get rid of it?"

"You have to put it in the card pile without us knowing." said Katara.

"Oh so when you two are distracted I put the card in the pile?"

"No Zuko," Katara sighed, "Ok look- say I had the joker. So I'm going to put in the pile, face down, like this-" she layed a card face down -"but I'm going to say I put down a three-"

"Why a three?" the prince interupted.

"Becuse, Sokka put down a two. Anyway, say Sokka could tell I was lying, then I have to take the joker back."

"So... did you?"

"Zuko, you have the joker! There is only _one_ joker in a deck of cards."

"Can we please get back to our game." moaned Sokka.

"Ok, then, I'll put down a seven."

"Zuko... we know that was the joker."

"No you don't."

"The last card was three, so you should have laid down a four. You said you laid down a seven."

"Well, I did."

"It goes in numeral order, Zuko!"

"Oh. Right. I knew that..."


	4. A breif moment with Uncle Iroh

Iroh sipped his tea as he watched his nephew play a card game with the Water Tribe siblings. His heart warmed at the sight of the young prince socializing with some one close to his age for the first time in Agni knew how long.

Zuko never had any friends, so he clung to family. When he was younger, he spent more time behind the long robe of his mother rather then playing with the other children. Ursa often expressed her concern over her son's slightly reclusive behavior, but at the same time she liked having him so close, so she didn't do anything about it. As much as Iroh disagreed with Ursa's choice (he thought some contact with his peers would do the boy good), he couldn't help but smile every time he saw Zuko run into his mother's legs when she stopped walking. It was awfully cute, and it reminded Iroh of a baby turtleduck following its mother in every which direction.

As Zuko got older, he became less like Ursa's shadow and more like Ursa's entourage. The only difference between the two was that Zuko found the courage to walk beside his mother instead of behind her... Well, it was a start...

Then Ursa vanished. She vanished the same night Fire Lord Azulon died, leaving Ozai the heir to the throne.

When Ozai became Fire Lord, little Zuko was shoved into the background. Like a vase or a statue, he was just another part of the scenery. Iroh, having just lost his own son, saw this as a second chance. So he acted as a parental figure to Zuko. He was rewarded for his efforts every time his nephew gave him one of his slightly awkward grins, or when Zuko laughed at one of his jokes. Zuko made the old general feel happy just when he thought he could never be happy again.

And one day, Zuko asked if he could go into the War room. Iroh stared into those expectant, honey-colored eyes. He couldn't say no. He didn't know that, as he led his nephew into the War room, he was making one of the worst mistakes of his life...

"Uncle, are you ok?"

Iroh snapped out of his train of thought. Apparently they where done with their card game. Zuko sat down next to Iroh.

"Uncle, are you ok?" he repeated.

"I'm fine, nephew. I was just thinking."

"About...?"

Iroh paused for a moment. He took another sip of tea, purposely delaying his answer. He then stroked his graying beard and said, "I was thinking about re-decorating the palace once we relieve Ozai of his duties..."


End file.
